How to Save a Life (Niall Horan)

Chapter 5: Complications Already?!

Ellie’s POV

"I'm Niall Horan Sir, a friend of your daughter, nice to meet you." Niall said kindly and offered his hand. I was happy at the how polite he was. It made things a bit easier. My dad liked guys with manners.

"Niall Horan… why does that name sound so familiar?" My father mumbled, looking at the floor, perplexed. I bit my lip. Suddenly his head snapped up. "You're that guy from the article, the famous boy. The one with the girl that looked like you in the picture!" he made the connection and pointed at me. Niall nodded slowly.

"That's me." 

"You still have a lot of explaining to do Elizabeth. I want my answers." he narrowed his eyes at me. I nodded in acknowledgment.

"Well, I have to get going. Sorry El, the boys are probably wondering where I am." Niall started, grabbing his glasses from where he had left them on the counter, and pulling his hood back up. I nodded.

"I'll walk you to the door." I said, wanting to escape the awkward tension my father had created. We walked out of the kitchen and over towards the front door. He was about to leave when he stopped.

"Oh wait." he said reaching his hand into his pocket. He pulled out his phone and handed it to me. "Put your number in." he told me. I looked at the iPhone in my hand wearily. Giving a famous singer my phone number… it's a little intimidating to be honest. I'm sure a million girls would love to be in my spot right now, but I found it hard to be excited. I was nervous, mostly because I'm naturally a paranoid person. With a deep breath, I typed my cell phone number in and saved it under my name in his contacts. At this point I couldn't say that I didn't care if we never saw each other again. He was giving me a reason to believe he would be a great friend and someone to be there for me when I needed to talk, and I really needed that. So I would be stupid if I hadn't given him my number. I can't expect him to keep walking across town to come and talk to me. And I didn't want to ruin what we were starting to have.

"Thanks Ellie. I'll text you later or something, okay?" he said. I gave a nod.

"Alright. Oh, and tell the others I'm sorry for the scene I made at the hotel earlier." I winced as I remember how I acted. That's embarrassing.

"Don't worry." he chuckled. "I'm sure they understand. I'll see you soon. Bye." he said and wrapped his arms around me in a warm strong hug. I didn't hesitate to hug back this time, because it felt right, and it made me feel better to have someone hug me like this. These days, the only good hugs I ever get are from my dad.

"Bye Niall, thanks again."

"No need to thank me." he said over his shoulder as he walked out, giving me a wave, before turning around and walking down the sidewalk, with his head down. I watched as he walked for a second before shutting the door and returning to the kitchen. My dad stood there with his arms crossed staring at me.

"I don't like him." was the first thing he said.

My jaw dropped. "Wha…What?!  Why not?!" I screeched in surprise. Niall had done nothing wrong. He had been polite and introduced himself and he was the first person I have even gotten even semi close to in the past few months. I surprised my father isn't jumping for joy just for the fact that I am talking to someone other than him.

"There's just something about him that I don't like. I didn't like the way he looked at you, or the fact that he put you on the front cover of the newspaper. What is this even about Ellie? Answers. Now." he demanded. I looked down and sighed.

"When I ran out yesterday I was walking down the street and I wasn't really paying attention and I started to stray out into the street without realizing and Niall pulled me out of the way of an oncoming car. I would have been fine, but whoever took this picture blew it out of proportion." I lied through my teeth. I was not telling him what had really happened. He didn't need to worry about something like that right now.